Bite of the Worgen

Posted by Wolfen in World of Warcraft

As the only person on earth to not play World of Warcraft’s Cataclysm expansion, I figured it was finally time to see what all the talk was about. I decided to start from scratch so that I could experience all the new content. I picked a Worgen mage and entered the game.

My very first sight was of Prince Liam Greymane giving orders to his troops. I soon learned that the city of Gilneas was under attack by rampaging Worgen and that I was needed to help in its defense. I was given a quest to go kill some Worgen, so off I went with staff in hand.

After I had dispatched some baddies, I was tasked with gathering up some crucial supplies by locating several boxes scattered throughout the surrounding area. I also had to rescue some frightened citizens from their homes. After doing all I could to help the situation here, I was sent on to the Military District to receive further instructions.

The king wanted me to find a man named Darius Crowley, once considered a traitor, but now needed to help fight off the invaders. Along the way I found my class trainer and received a new spell – Arcane Missiles. This spell is a little different from the version prior to Cataclysm. With the new version you must cast another spell before Arcane Missiles will be available. I found it to be a bit annoying after being used to casting it whenever I wanted.

I found Crowley and some of his men guarding a wounded man. They needed help holding off the attacking Worgen for two minutes so that they would have time to bandage him. So, for the next two minutes we fought off several waves of Worgen. There were plenty of them but they were easy to kill. Even so, two minutes seemed a very long time. After the attack was over, Crowley sent me to a basement where a stash of big cannons were hidden.

See that guy in the picture above? Josiah Avery is the man responsible for turning me into a Worgen. He attacked upon my arrival, and before I could kill him, he had bitten me. Lorna Crowley and her two dogs came to my rescue. She then gave me one of her dogs and had me find and kill invisible Worgen. The dog was able to smell them out, so he led me right to them.

After that, they needed someone to lead a large group of Worgen away from one of the main gates, so the King gave me his own horse to attempt the deed. It was quite the ride.

Upon complete of that crazy ride, I soon learned that I was bound to repeat it again. Crowley had his cannons in place and needed help getting the enemy in range of them. I jumped on the horse with him and away we went. I was tasked with throwing torches into groups of Worgen, which would get their attention so that they would chase us. It was a very fun exercise.

Now that the enemy was in front of the cannons, it was time to see the fireworks. Crowley ordered me to take control of the cannons and kill 80 of the attacking Worgen. I was able to turn, raise, and lower the cannons so that I could aim them at large concentrations of the enemy. I also had a great time doing this.

Unfortunately, the cannons could not kill them fast enough, so we were ordered to fall back to the cathedral that was behind us. They soon broke through, however, and we were attacked on all sides. This is where it turned bad for me. The bite I received from Josiah Avery was a Worgen bite. It quickly began to affect me and I soon turned on my friends and attacked them. The last thing I saw before blacking out was of Worgen flying in from the windows to kill everyone.

I had become a Worgen.

I was impressed with the Worgen starting area. I was very engaged with what was happening around me. Everything I accomplished was fun to do. The mad dashes on horseback and the firing of huge cannons enriched the experience and pulled me in. I had a great time. I hope the good experiences continue as I delve deeper in Cataclysm.

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Vanguard: First Impressions

Posted by Wolfen in Vanguard

I have finally found my way into the world of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. My first impression in a nutshell: not as bad as I thought it would be.

My new computer, video card, and power supply all arrived, so I got all of them put together and running smoothly. My computer specifications are: AMD X2 6000+ processor, 3gigs RAM, and Nvidia 8800GT 512mb video card. Screen resolution is 1680×1050. I tested everything to make sure all was working and then I launched myself into Vanguard.

The first few minutes into the game was disconcerting. My frame rate was horrible and it didn’t get better no matter how I changed the game settings. The game then crashed to the desktop and I began to get a bit worried. My concerns didn’t last for long. Once I got back into the game, everything worked just fine. Everything was smooth and looked great. I breathed a sigh of relief and continued on. On a side note, the name Wolfen was already taken, so I had to use Wolfenn.

I created a half-elf druid and started in the Tanvu area. When my character’s eyes opened, I was standing on the beach near the Shang Village. These first two pictures show what was in front and behind me. (Click on the thumbnails for a larger view)

The object in the distance of the first picture is of a man riding a dragon. He is the first person to give me a quest. He told me that the soldiers on the beach were low on morale and needed a cheering up. So, I talked to a few of the soldiers and raised their morale. I wondered why their morale was low.

It turns out that these are troops of a powerful emperor and they were in the middle of attacking the Shang Village. My next quest was to go kill some of the villagers. This made me pause a moment. I know that half elfs are not an evil race, so why was I being told to kill villagers? There was nothing for it but to see it through, so I ran up to the village and killed the required number. Several of the houses were on fire, which was neat to look at. I returned to the dragon-riding commander and got more quests.

One of the village quests did amuse me. Some of the soldiers were not attacking the villagers, so I was tasked with setting them straight. I found one of the “pathetic” soldiers and clicked on him. A status bar appeared on my screen and it said “Laying down the law.” My character was slapping the soldier. When the deed was done, the soldier started attacking a villager – and lost. So here are more soldiers not wanting to do what they were told. Interesting, indeed.

In the end, I was tasked with assaulting a fortress house where a Master Fhungusu lived and kill him. None of the monks surrounding the house attacked me. I entered the house and found the room that Master Fhungusu occupied. As you can see by the screenshot below, something was wrong with this.

What was the problem? I am level 3 and he is level 50. He didn’t attack, however, so I clicked on him, and what he told me cleared up some of the mystery. He said that the emperor is an evil man and that I shouldn’t follow him. I was chided for killing innocent villagers and getting their blood on my weapons. He wants to change my ways for the good. My weapons were taken from me, and I was sent to Dallerjuba Village to begin my reclamation.

More to come in later posts.

–Wolfen

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